Such a hand brake device is known from EP 1 655 190 A1. While the brake is electrically activated in this conventional hand brake device, the operating element resembles the lever in a conventional, purely mechanical hand brake device. The hand brake exhibits a handle to be gripped by the user, and can be locked in a brake position by having a latch engage into a toothed rack. However, while the position of the brake lever in the conventional mechanical hand brake is clearly correlated with the status of the brake, i.e., tightened or released, and the user can read the status of the brake by the position of the lever, there is no such clear correlation for the hand brake device according to EP 1 655 190 A1. When a user pulls up the brake lever, he or she can lock it into the brake position, but if the onboard electrical system of the vehicle is turned off, the actuator cannot respond to lever activation and tighten the brake. In this circumstance, the position of the lever may give the driver the impression that the hand brake device has been activated, when in reality it has not.